 | 24 February 2023: on the occasion of closure of The Rainstick project, its main actors took a common photo: from left: Martin Poláček, Kateřina Poláková, Lucie Zachovalová, Lenka Chadimová, Jiří Hájíček, Helena Macháčková, Zdeňka Brychtová, Petr Macháček; missing are Liv Hanne and Anne Katrine Haugen, who are too far to join us on this evening - in Tromsø. They are in many other pictures, for example from 20 May 2022. Though the project is nearing its official end, we will go on playing The Rainstick beyond it; with the same professional care and a lot of joy. |
 | 24 February 2023: this evening, we have played the last performance of The Rainstick within the official international project; this evening’s intermezzi were executed, for the second time in two years, by the writer Jiří Hájíček - the author of the original novel The Rainstick; he was reading from the novel during the intermezzi and after the performance, and added some reading from his newly published collection of haiku. |
 | 23 February 2023: before the end of The Rainstick project, we have published a brochure summarizing the significant events associated with the project for the overall two years. The brochure contains for example a listing of all performances with all individual guests executing the intermezzi during every evening, reflections and comments by experts, visitors and project participants, and much more. |
 | 19 November 2022: during this performance within the Theatre Night 2022, the intermezzi were executed by Radovan Dluhý-Smith, the independent researcher undertaking factual analyses of social phenomena. His entries were dealing, among other aspects, with weather control by people. |
 | 21 October 2022: the intermezzi of this evening were performed by the Metrobus group, creators of commented videos about public transport. In The Rainstick, Zbyněk rides a motorbike, while the Metrobus people were travelling by bus - and delivered both entertaining and serious ride, both slow and speedy, both calm and turbulent. |
 | 18 September 2022: in a rehearsal room of the Rådstua Teaterhus in Tromsø, a joint public arts workshop took place together with our project partners, the Haugen sisters. It was focused on the ways and methods of working both on new theatre pieces and on deepening of creative skills of actors and performers. During several hours, we have touched the topics of removal of random outer influences, paths to oneself by means of physical exercises and minimalist paths into the core of action through conceptual exercises. Both practice and talking were thorough. |
 | 17 September 2022: after the performance of The Rainstick in Tromsø, a discussion took place about the piece, its form and its principles; among other topics, we talked about minimalism and conceptual approaches, about opportunities associated with freely executed intermezzi, about rhythm and its influence on the overall communication during a performance. |
 | 17 September 2022: we had the second joint performance of The Rainstick with the main project partners, the sisters Liv Hanne and Anne Katrine Haugen; on the stage in Tromsø, we were speaking in Czech and Norwegian, Czech language was complemented with English subtitles. |
 | 17 September 2022: in the Rådstua Teaterhus in Tromsø, our project partners, the Haugen sisters together with us and the local partner organization HATS arranged a workshop on cultural entrepreneurship focused on operation of small independent theatre groups in Czechia and Norway. The event was attended by surprisingly many theatre professionals from Tromsø and environs, including Egill Palsson, the director of the local state theatre. |
 | 16 September 2022: we had the third joint performance of The Rainstick together with Liv Hanne and Anne Katrine Haugen; this time, after two evenings in Prague, it took place at the Rådstua Teaterhus in Tromsø. |
 | 28 July 2022: within the territory of the tribe of Kon-takt, the tribe oriented to aquatic environment, the tribe with a highly developed culture. Thanks to the tribal chief Jan N and to the tribe’s kind spirit Joseph D, we were allowed to perform our version of The Rainstick within the premises of the Strakonice municipal swimming pools, with improvized actions by several tribe’s warriors. |
 | 23 June 2022: our 2021/22 season came to its end at the Staroboleslavský dvůr farmyard with The Rainstick and with MUDr. Karen Pumrová as the guest of the evening (a guest at her own ranch). The Midsummer Night was beautiful and joyous. |
 | 21 May 2022: after our second joint performance of The Rainstick, we and Liv Hanne and Anne Katrine Haugen together with the audience had a conversation about the penetration of industry into arctic nature and chances for its sustainability. The Haugen sisters were dealing with this topic already as part of their action during the performance, afterwards we discussed it in more detail, including questions from the audience. |
 | 21 May 2022: we had the second joint performance of The Rainstick with Liv Hanne and Anne Katrine Haugen. Also this second joint performance in Prague was complemented by English subtitles, thanks to which also visitors who do not speak Czech took part, including the Honorary Consul for Northern Norway Arve Johansen. During the performance and afterwards, the photographer Vlasta Nowak took very interesting pictures. |
 | 21 May 2022: the afternoon series of lectures within our "Arctic Saturday" was closed by a lecture by the traveller Karel Wolf, who was speaking (and showing pictures) about his journey to the Arctic Norway in a modified van with his whole family. |
 | 21 May 2022: the afternoon series of lectures within our "Arctic Saturday" was started by Dagmar Johansen speaking (and showing pictures) about the differences in lives in Central Europe and Northern Norway. Dagmar Johansen is active in psychotherapy and couching, shamanism, Sami culture. She grew up in Czechia and now lives at the north of Norway. |
 | 21 May 2022: we have organized the "Arctic Saturday". During the afternoon, lectures and discussions about Northern Norway were taking place. The lecturers included: Dagmar Johansen (about different ways of life in Central Europe and Northern Norway), Anna Rasmussen (photographs of Norwegian nature including polar lights), Karel Wolf (about his expedition to Arctic Norway). The Afternoon also had its gastronomic part. We were surprised by a large number of participants in the lectures and people interested in exhibitions. (photo Anna Rasmussen) |
 | 20 May 2022: During the whole "Arctic Days" at Divadlo Kámen, we were offering the exhibition of photographs by Kristýna Suchá from The Rainstick theatre piece and, in parallel, the exhibition of photo collages by Eva Pechová (Dis)appearance, partly inspired by The Rainstick novel by Jiří Hájíček. (photo Kristýna Suchá) |
 | 20 May 2022: at night, after the performance of The Rainstick, a discussion about the creative aspects of the piece took place, focused on the concept of short intermezzi incorporated within each performance. The discussion was held by theatre critics and journalists Vladimír Hulec and Petr Klarin Klár and the creative arts critic and curator Lucie Váchová, creators of the piece and most of the performance visitors. |
 | 20 May 2022: after a half-day rehearsal of the joint piece initially prepared at a distance through both written and visual communication, we together with Liv Hanne and Anne Katrine Haugen presented the first joint public performance of The Rainstick. The investigation of various aspects of the notion of "home" from the point of view of South-Bohemian countryside and town (novel The Rainstick), Prague (the city where the artists from Divadlo Kámen live) and Arctic Norway (the place where Haugen sisters live) thus finally came together. |
 | 20 May 2022: before the performance of The Rainstick, a press briefing took part, informing about the overall project supported, among other partners, by the peoples of Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants. At the beginning of the briefing, the Honorary Consul for Northern Norway Arve Johansen gave his introduction. |
 | 19 May 2022: our colleagues and main partners of The Rainstick project Liv Hanne and Anne Katrine Haugen together with Jordi Cortes Molina gave the performance Home Made & Digging into my Magnificent Trashbin Searching for my Life in a Prague’s villa, which was kindly allowed to us by supporters of our theatre. |
 | 19 May 2022: our colleague and associate of Haugen Productions Jordi Cortes Molina performed a workshop of physical theatre and improvisation at the Jedlička Institute in Prague. This half-day workshop attended by handicapped students of the school and their assistants was part of The Rainstick project, and it was introduced by the Honorary Consul for Northern Norway Arve Johansen. |
 | 15 May 2022: directly in the theatre, we installed the exposition about the history of Czech-Norwegian relationships that was lent to us by the Norwegian Embassy in Prague. We will offer this exposition for approximately 10 days (it cannot be longer because of a scheduled refurbishment of our water piping), particularly during the Norway’s Saturday on 21 May and around it - during joint performances with our Norwegian project partners. |
 | 30 April 2022: our colleagues Liv Hanne and Anne Katrine Haugen are getting ready – still in Tromsø – for the series of joint performances in Prague between 19 and 21 May; in The Rainstick, we will, at last, meet on the stage on the evenings of 20 and 21 May |
 | 21 April 2022: today evening’s guest performing the intermezzi was kamala de tar-is exploring, during her actions, the rights of a living person and suggesting potentials of (co)habitation of inherently free people with the social system; in that way, she treated strongly Indian topics complemented by her impeccable costume |
 | 9 April 2022: the guest of today evening’s performance taking place in the municipal theatre in Turnov was Martin Hybler, composer, orchestra conductor, arranger, pianist; his intermezzi were played on a keyboard (mostly – not always – with the basic piano sound), and he sometimes also invaded other stages of the piece; the entire show was very lively and both joyous and dolorous. The lights were beautifully controlled by Monika Hakenová. |
 | 23 March 2022: the guest of this evening’s performance was Jan Aksamít, specialist in electrical engineering and electronics; electricity and electronics are, from certain points of view, what soil and land used to be for American Indians |
 | 19 March 2022: our Norwegian weekend scheduled for 20 and 21 May will also include a lecture by the traveller Karel Volf giving account of his van trip beyond the Polar Circle; in this context, we distributed our invitation leaflets to the Norwegian weekend at the big Prague’s Holiday World travellers’ festival, where Karel Volf is a key personage |
 | 10 March 2022: we are gradually getting ready for the workshop at the Jedlička Institute - a project part to be carried out in May together with our Norwegian partners; this creative workshop for both handicapped and "ordinary" people will be focused on the topic of "home" and its reflexion by means of contemporary physical theatre |
 | 1 March 2022: we continue getting ready for the Norwegian day and the overall Norwegian weekend to take place in Prague in May; communication is on with the project partner Dagmar Johansen and, through her, with the other project partner "Konsulatet for Tsjekkia i Sjovegan, Norge" and its representative, Honorary Consul Arve H. Johansen |
 | 9 February 2022: remotely so far, we are in preparation of the series of May performances with our partners Haugen Produksjoner in Prague and, in parallel, of our performance and accompanying events we intend to undertake in September 2022 in Tromsø; top to bottom and left to right: Liv Hanne Haugen, Anne Katrin Haugen, Irene Hansen from the HATS productions in Tromsø, Kateřina Poláková, Petr Odo Macháček, Helena Macháčková |
 | 27 January 2022: this evening, intermezzi were performed by 6 young actors and actresses from Theatre Škola; after the theatre, a discussion with the leader of this group Irina Sleptsova (in the picture together with the actor Matvej Kuznetsov) took place about various aspects of a theatre for Russian-speaking children in Prague |
 | 15 November 2021: we communicate telephonically with our project partner Dagmar Johansen and, consequently, also with our partner "Konsulatet for Tsjekkia i Sjovegan, Norge", while preparing the encounter for May 2022 as part of the trip of our Norwegian creative partners to Prague for the purpose of a series of joint performances and other events |
 | 9 November 2021: through web channels, we are working on a series of joint performances with our main project partner Haugen Produksjoner - the dancers and performers Anne Katrin a Liv Hanne Haugen; our joint shows in Prague are planned to May 2022; top to bottom and left to right: Liv Hanne Haugen, Petr Odo Macháček, Helena Macháčková, Kateřina Poláková, Anne Katrin Haugen |
 | 21 October 2021: this evening's gueast performing the intermezzi was the documentarist and photographer Gabriela Kontra; she was reading from her new book about the phenomenon of giant rave (techno) parties; after theatre, a thorough presentation of her work was offered by the art historian Lucie Váchová (second left) |
 | 10 October 2021: in preparation of joint performance with our project partner - Theatre Škola (association k2e) to take place in January 2022; left to right: Kateřina Poláková (project manager), Irina Sleptsova (director of Theatre Škola), Helena Macháčková (manager of Divadlo Kámen) |
 | 17 September 2021: this evening's intermezzi were executed by the writer Jiří Hájíček - the author of the original novel The Rainstick; he was reading from the novel and added some more reading after the show, plus an interview with the audience |
 | 10 August 2021: this evening's intermezzi were executed by a couple of theatre improvisors from the Improvize group - Jana Machalíková & Jakub Troják |
 | 5 August 2021: the guest for today's evening was Dr. Tomáš Nielsen - lawyer dealing, among other topics, with protection of fundamental rights and liberties and principles of a democratic society subject to the rule of law |
 | 4 August 2021: in today's performance, intermezzi were performed by Dr. Jozef Hrušovský - Nijo (second left) - medical practitioner, homeopath, visionary, motorbiker; for the first time, we played in the configuration with Lenka Chadimová (left) and Lucie Zachovalová (right) |
 | 26 July 2021: we made an excursion to South-Bohemian Vodňany bogs, the stage into which both novel and play are set; the guide of the expedition was Jiří Hájíček, the author of the novel; photo in front of the house of the writer Julius Zeyer in Vodňany |
 | 17 June 2021: during today’s evening, we started to collect responses to our visitor survey; we are trying to find out what the people think about our theatre and why they come |
 | 17 June 2021: the second premiere took place; the guest performing intermezzi was Gabriela Kontra - author of the photographs projected during the performances of The Rainstick and author of a book on the phenomenon of giant one-day rave (techno) parties (left); Jiří Hájíček, the author of the novel (second right), was in the audience |
 | 16 June 2021: the Norwegian ambassador Mr Robert Kvile accompanied by his wife visited the today’s premiere |
 | 16 June 2021: the premiere took place; the guests performing intermezzi were the dancer Vanessa Anna and DJ Zdeněk Vejvoda |
 | 10 June 2021: there are elegant printed programmes in Czech and English / graphics by Blanka Křemenová |
 | 5 June 2021: there are elegant invitation flyers for each evening / photo Kristýna Suchá / graphics by Blanka Křemenová |
 | 4 June 2021: a full set of photographs by Gabriela Kontra is ready, and the miniprojector tested, by means of which spectators will be able to view them in the audience area |
 | 3 June 2021: our guests for the premieres are confirmed, with details here |
 | 24 May 2021: two premieres have been scheduled and confirmed, the dates are 16 a 17 June |
 | 19 April 2021: we have elegant rehearsal photos / taken by Kristýna Suchá |
 | 11 April 2021: our new rainstick is with us / yes, the musical instrument from the title will feature in this piece / if you consider this too descriptive, please do not be afraid, we will not treat it as a mere instrument, but rather load upon it many essential metaphysical, figurative and conceptual significances largely outreaching its physical and terrestrial existence |
 | 1 March 2021: intense rehearsals are starting / the play is written, it has a structure and a certain plan / we start rehearsing with all the actors, who have already gone through preparatory phases / the director has a reasonable amount of horror in his eyes |
